


Kire

by wild_pang



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: First Contact, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Sex, M/M, Misunderstandings, Other, Rape/Non-con Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 18:40:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16749532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wild_pang/pseuds/wild_pang
Summary: It began as a terrible misunderstanding, but soon Geordi and Kire found they could overcome their differences.





	Kire

They couldn't stay in the radiation storm. The shuttle crash site was battered with wind, sand and heat, the temperature over 50 degrees Celsius. The craft was not salvageable, nor could it remain hospitable; already it was becoming an oven. They took instruments and supplies and made for the hills. The anxiety of the geologic survey crew was palpable as Data, Geordi, and Ensign Fey anticipated what they would find somewhere in those caves. 

 

\--

 

The aliens of Peelen III, known as Peelers, were a misunderstood people. Advanced technologically but reclusive; humanoid with naked androgynous bodies; no apparent weapons save a mysterious particle emitter; linguistically incomprehensible but apparently limited telepaths relying on the beam's contact to transmit. 

Virtually all the federation knew about these people was that first contact had resulted in tragedy and utter failure. 42 years ago the Federation delegation of telepaths had beamed down to their caves and attempted communication with no success; the Peelers repeatedly touched one another and probed one another with energy beams, making erratic movements to approach the visitors. Frightened, the federation's senior official commanded aloud that they move no closer. The command incited the aliens to violence, as the Peelers began grappling with them. Several Peelers were killed in the mele, and several Starfleet officers were stripped below the waist and forcibly probed with energy beams. Upon escaping, the traumatized officers reported telepathic contact only for the duration of the violation. The Peeler's minds were full of panic, anger, distrust, accusations, and fear. No further attempts at contact were made or planned. 

The Enterprise had responded to what may have been a distress signal from the planet's inhabitants. They intended a strict non-contact policy. The crew quickly discovered that the planet was geologically unstable; a former class M planet turning inhospitable with tectonic rifts, core radiation, and runaway climate shift. The Enterprise's primary scans and transporters were no use in the radiation, but modified probe scans indicated the unmistakable presence of an organized albeit unusual civilization. Energy systems unlike anything the Federation had encountered; no apparent weapons systems but incalculably powerful energy emitter dish; a subspace distress pulse but no receiver for a hailing mechanism; what appeared to be transporter technology but no evidence of space vessels; life signs of between 1000-1100 residents in a series of underground complexes. 

Data and Geordi theorized that the planet's destructive thermal pressure could be relieved with targeted phaser drilling, but they needed more detailed geological scans. To determine if the attempt would succeed or further destabilize the planet. With grave hesitation, Picard authorized a geological expedition to the surface by shuttle. 

The Enterprise crew knew they would lose contact with their geological survey team in the shuttlecraft in the lower atmosphere; they also knew they would not be able to use the transporter if this mission went awry. They kept a channel open as long as they could. Just before the signal broke, Commander Data reported increasing magnetic field turbulence and intermittent right thrusters. Their fears ran from bad to worse. With an apparent crash landing and increasing storms, no immediate rescue was possible. They would have to do their best without the Enterprise and hope to stay out of the aliens' way long enough to be rescued. 

 

\--

 

The sand and wind were brutal. Data, Fey and LaForge could now barely see a few feet in front of them. For all they knew they could have taken a new heading by mistake. Luckily the hills came back into view, so they rushed on. They spotted their first Peelers before they reached shelter, high above the caves in front of them. They had no choice but to press on. Data was in the lead; at the mouth of the cave he walked into an undetected force field and abruptly fell to the ground,  deactivated. Terrified, Geordi ordered a Fey to stop--that force field would be lethal to a human. Suddenly with a blow to the head, everything went dark. 

Waking up stripped naked was an awful shock. Pale naked beings surrounded them, more than 20 of them. The aliens had no visible weapons but neither did the federation officers, all stripped bare. Geordi had gasped as he startled awake, "what the--," but cut himself off. Data looked at Geordi meaningfully and held one finger to his lips. Geordi nodded. Data was standing two meters from Geordi in the center of the room, Fey was huddled near one wall defensively, all in the room were silent. Geordi sighed and shook his head, standing up. The Peelers looked at them intently, fidgeting with their feet and hands nervously. Geordi didn't like this at all. 

There was one tall Peeler standing across from Data, the two silently appraising one another. The silence went on and on. Geordi tried to catch Data's attention but it didn't work. A smaller Peeler eventually shifted to stand in front of this leader, and yellow beams came from the tall one to the small one. Geordi felt sick to his stomach and heard Fey gasp silently. The smaller one blinked, stepped aside and looked at his leader with a nod; he had just received some orders. Data too nodded, pointed to himself, and turned his back on them. Geordi could now see Data's neutral expression, impassive as ever. No clues there. Data let the leader approach him from behind him, about to begin that invasive scan any moment. Geordi held his breath. 

Fey started to whimper with fear. The aliens moved away from her instinctively, but when she did not stop they moved to grab her. She screamed and they covered her mouth: she bit them and screamed more. Data spoke a command, "Silence," causing the aliens to cringe and cower, but she was out of control. They were closing on her, they needed her to stop. They grabbed him too, primal fear shooting through him. He shook his head to indicate No, but they stepped behind him. Her wails were making them crazy, they needed to regain control of all of these dangerous strangers. Desperate now, Geordi heard his own voice as if from a distance. "No. No! Hey, don't, we are on a peaceful mission, No! this isn't OK, No!" Their hands over his mouth, their hands holding him still with great strength, he knew there was no hope now. 

The Peeler behind him opened the channel to Geordi's body and mind; everything Geordi felt and thought, the alien felt and thought. The reverse was also true. Immediately the alien was overcome by the anguish, the suffering and fear of this strange person. 

//No stop scared no no

//We communicate with you listen

//Stop stop no can't bear it

//Your music is violent to us

//Please stop anguish torture

The stranger screamed in his mind that this not conversation with him--this was an invasion. The alien extended the only answer he had: 

//Trust me?

A supersonic screech brought all beings in the room to their knees. Data was making the sound, and it was as debilitating to Geordi's nerves as it seemed to be to the aliens'. The probing stopped. Geordi felt himself knocked out of the alien's grasp and collapsed to the floor. Data was huddling over him protectively, covering him with his own body, and stopped screeching. Geordi didn't know Fey's fate but she was silent now, too. Data helped Geordi sit up. Geordi could see Data was waiting for him to indicate if he was OK, and the truth was that he was not. He lied with a nod. 

Data lifted him up, carried him over to the wall and set him down gently a foot from Fey who was unconscious on the floor. She seemed to have been knocked out, or she had fainted. Data crouched defensively in front of the two humans and all Peelers huddled to the far side of the room. All of Data's choices here seemed symbolic. Clearly, Geordi could have walked, although he was quite upset, and was he not particularly safer over here than where he was before. Whatever it was, it was working. Data had established that he was the protector of this group of humans. The aliens had to communicate through him, or they would be at an impasse. 

Geordi remembered when Data had allowed a colony of sentient nanorobots to inhabit his body and speak through him to the Captain. It was a personal risk, a gesture of good faith to prevent war with the creatures. It was not unlike him to offer himself without question. However, it seemed the Peelers didn't believe Data was going to be a viable mediator. It was true that Data was incompatible with many forms of telepathic contact, but he seemed perfectly willing to try. 

With more gesturing, eventually the leader stepped forward again into the empty center of the room. Data approached as well and turned around to receive a transmission. Geordi wasn't sure that he wanted to watch but he thought he should learn as much as possible. The yellow beam of light came from the alien's nose and mouth, curving and entering Data's nose and mouth; an identical beam extended from the alien's groin region and entered Data's anal cavity. A silent gulp. The leader was making a strained face, Data was hard at work processing some information. After a minute, quite suddenly the leader relaxed somewhat, Data straightened and looked directly at Geordi. He gave the distinct impression that contact was established. After five minutes or more, the connection was severed. Data seemed no worse for wear, luckily. He nodded at Geordi, which looked like it meant everything was going to be alright now. If you say so. 

The small Peeler took more orders from the leader. He had a delicate, sinewy frame, wider at the shoulders than the hips and flat chested like they all were (hence Geordi's instinct to consider them male) but the least physically threatening of the persons in the room. He had twice now taken direction from the most commanding one -- who towered even over Data. It seemed the conversation between Peelers was always initiated by the taller member. Maybe height or size had something to do with authority here. The small member looked repeatedly at Geordi, then Data, his leader, and back to Geordi. The small person was apprehensive but brave, nodded his consent to something unspoken. He then crouched low to the floor and crawled carefully towards Geordi, eyes locked on the stranger's face. Peelers started filing out of the room until only this one alien and the Starfleet officers remained. His movements were calculated to be as non-threatening as possible, even submissive. He came to within a meter and sat still, looking helpless. 

Data looked at Geordi and nodded encouragingly toward the small Peeler. What the hell was going on? What the hell am I supposed to do? Well it was certainly preferable to the chaos before. Am I supposed to do something? I will NOT let him touch me, Data. God help me I will not, he sighed to himself. 

"I have consented to speak with you, stranger. Be gentle. Be brief."

Geordi was shocked. If they could speak, why in God's name had any of this happened at all? He gritted his teeth; important questions first. 

"What is--" the alien trembled at the sound of Geordi's voice. He looked excruciatingly vulnerable. Geordi finished in almost a whisper, "--the beam of light?"

"Communication mind to mind. To you it was unacceptable. We will not repeat." 

"Good."

"Data has explained, it is sexual custom in your culture. Here we do not reproduce in this way. We meant only to reason with you. We are not violent; we believe in consent."

"As do we."

"Please do not speak to us without consent. It is intimacy here; unacceptable to force intimacy on us." 

Geordi's mouth fell open in amazement. So, the feeling was mutual. 

"You agreed to this intimacy?"

"Only you!" He sounded so alarmed, he could not let it be misunderstood. Then looking closely at Geordi's face, "I believe I can trust you. I can help you so that we can be at peace, Geordi."

What a thing to say. And he had learned his name how, from Data or from the scan?

"What will you help with?"

"While you stay, have questions you will ask me. Do not ask others, it will not be acceptable. I will... guide you." 

"We need clothing. We will be less afraid."

"I will bring you there." With that, he stood.

Geordi stood, too. "What do I call you?"

"You call we Peelers."

"No, what is your name? You?"

Puzzled, the alien thought briefly. "I have no word for my name. You may choose one."

"What do they say about you?"

"We would say I am one who trusts and hopes not to be hurt. We call this  _kire_." 

Geordi smiled for the first time. It sounded like it must be the word for fool. 

"I will call you Kire."

 

\--

 

Marching through the camp, Data and Geordi soaked up everything they could. It was certainly an organized society, but it was silent, full of flashes of light as they communicated in the way they did. Data carried Ensign Fey. He had deactivated his modesty program -- it had seemed necessary to their survival just an hour before. Kire brought them to what appeared to be private quarters, and outer room and two inner rooms. The rooms were simple bare but there were mattresses and fabric covering them. There was indeed fabric in this place, just not on bodies. Data placed Fey on a bed in the inner room, where she could not be seen from the door. Geordi asked for a blanket to cover her. Kire was mystified but soon another one brought spare mattress covers. They would serve well enough.  

Kire whispered to Geordi that he and another one would be watchers, they were allowed to go most anywhere but must have an escort for mutual safety. Their clothes were returned to them without communicators, tricorders, or their supplies. Let alone their geological equipment or their phasers. The plan was straight-forward enough: Kire would talk only to Geordi, the other one would communicate wordlessly with Data as needed, and no one would have any contact with Fey. Fey was Data's responsibility. 

"Data and I need to talk."

Kire nodded toward the corridor, walked out, and the door shut behind him. 

"Geordi, are you alright?"

"God, Data, I don't know. Worst day of my life, I thought, but now I don't know. It's very delicate both ways. He feels remorse. And his role in this may be worse than mine." Rubbing his face, "I don't know what to think. Tell me everything you've learned."

"Of course, Geordi."

"I cannot receive their telepathic link in the way they intend, but I have been able to decode the frequency of the transmitted thoughts and send my own thoughts and questions and a return pulse. It is hard for them as they are accustomed to a completely organic connection, made up of thoughts, emotions, sensations. I should be able to create a communication device that they will experience as a non-violent, albeit limited, form of communication. 

"The Peelers reproduce asexually once in their lives, care for the child for a single year of rapid maturation, and then the elder Peeler dies. None present in that room were children, but the size indicates age as well as status. Kire is the youngest adult, having been born just three years ago. The elder, who is the highest status individual, is nine years old. Their lifespan may be longer than ten years but there is no history of it. The elder will produce offspring this year."

"Fascinating, Data..."

"They have no gender. After gestation, they use their own beams -- which is able to transform matter like a transporter -- to transport the child from inside the parent into their own arms, fully... born. The child materializes and takes its first breath--"

"--Data, why is this relevant?"

"I was telling you everything, as you asked," Data was a bit put out in his android way. "Besides, Geordi, these are key to our communication issues. They do not understand physical sexuality. They do not touch one another to mate, or to produce a child. Touch is mundane in their society. Sharing every thought is mundane -- as telepaths. But vibration of the vocal cords seems to be reserved as the most intimate pleasure. It has no effect of reproduction, but Peelers take mates for pleasure's sake. They form family units just for the joy of being together. They make love to make one another happy."

"And by make love you mean they..."

"Hum melodically with one another, harmonize their voices, and stare into one another's eyes."

Geordi couldn't help but laugh. "I suppose human mating rituals make little more sense than that, when you really think about it."

"Indeed. The leader told me that Kire was very ashamed to have been the one who sang your forbidden music, as they phrased it," Data mused, "and to absolve his crime he was willing to die at your feet. I told him we refuse all violence, any form, and that you did not seek revenge. I suggested to them that your recovery from this violence would be aided by someone willing to speak to our language and be your guide. I believe he was less afraid to die than he was to 'mate' with you."

"Mate, Data? Are you serious?"

"They consider it that; mating is not for life here. The relationship will end when it has run its course, when it is no longer what either of you need. It will end the moment that we leave. But for Kire it was a bit like agreeing to an arranged marriage with a complete stranger from an alien world. It is a good thing that he is brave."

"And you think this was necessary?"

"I think it keeps you safe from misunderstanding. You did seem to recover your strength after he began to speak; your stability is important. We need their cooperation to contact the Enterprise before we succumb to radiation sickness. They are willing to trade information provided we are as peaceful as we promise to be. 

"I will communicate their way with Jono, the other one assigned to our quarters. Fey will have to stay close to me or stay in this room -- she will be unstable and could easily incite an incident as she succumbs to fear. I am afraid I will have to guard her at all times. But you will have Kire."

 

\--

 

Data departed with Jono to negotiate the return of as many of their belongings as possible, especially the communicators and tricorders. 

Opening the outer door, Geordi saw Kire standing at attention as Data passed. Data was tall enough to be among their higher status individuals; Geordi was more of a cadet's size, by comparison. 

Geordi gestured to invite Kire into the room suite. There were mats to sit on, and a kind of artificial fire recessed in the ground in the center of the space. Geordi sat, and Kire sat an arm's length away. They looked at one another. Even by human standards, this was awfully intimate.

"Kire," he began softly, moved with concern as the alien winced, "can I do anything to make this easier for you?"

"Before singing begins here, we always share eyes. I cannot see your eyes. Then, before singing you could touch me first so I know you will start." He gestured: hand, shoulder. A reassuring touch. OK, thought Geordi. That's reasonable. He moved to sit where their knees nearly touched, and held the alien's hand. 

"I would show you my eyes, but then I could not see anything at all."

"This... allows you to see."

"Yes. My VISOR translates all frequencies of vibrations into visual input. Light, energy, magnetic forces, sound, music..."

Kire seemed pleased by this. "Your life is full of music. Your music becomes light, so you can see."

"Yes, I guess so... Light reflects from everything in different ways, materials have different colors that mean something to me." Geordi wasn't sure if this was the part that interested his friend. "I see colors when you speak. When you are silent, the light vibrates from you like music."

Kire blushed and looked away, just like a young woman flattered by a courtier. Geordi was in way over his head. How could he be friendly and kind, and avoid the romantic meaning imbued on this by his own culture? 

"So even if silent you hear me singing?" Kire shuddered, seeming nervous again. 

"Hey, it's OK. I'll take it off so that we can talk comfortably, OK?" Hey unlatched the VISOR and lowered it to his lap. He reached to find Kire's hand and he found it extended for him to find. Their fingers interlocked. 

"You don't have to be blind for me. You can see my music, it is OK. I consent." Geordi left it off for a minute, anyway. "I do like to see your eyes."

"Does eye contact also need consent in your culture?" 

"Yes."

"Ah, I should warn the others to be careful, look at the ground--"

"--it is not so serious as music. We understand. It makes you strange but it is acceptable. And you, no one can tell if you are looking."

Geordi smiled. "Well I'm not looking at anything right now."

"See my music, Geordi. It is OK. You are trusted."

As Geordi replaced the VISOR he realized he hadn't asked. "Why do you trust me?"

"I saw inside your heart and mind. You are a good being. You care for your people. You care for we too. You came to help, risked danger to save we. You trust, but you were betrayed..." Kire's eyes glistened with emotion. "I can show you we deserve trust again."

Geordi didn't want to use his voice. He nodded and squeezed the alien's hand. He hoped that was enough, his own moist eyes hidden from view. 

"I understand that we are mated in a way?"

Kire nodded. "It need not mean this to you. For we it is significant. We are equal beings and we both consent."

"If it is significant to you, Kire, then my people want to understand, to honor that. Just as what is significant to us you now honor. This is how we find understanding."

"OK, Geordi."


End file.
